Time Names Transgender Teen Gavin Grimm One Of The Most Influential People Of 2017

By

On Top Magazine Staff

|
April 21, 2017

Transgender teen Gavin Grimm is among
those featured in Time magazine's annual list of the 100 most
influential people.

The 17-year-old Grimm is challenging
his school's policy of not allowing transgender students to use the
bathroom of their choice. The Supreme Court was scheduled to hear
the case last month but instead sent it back to a lower court after
President Donald Trump revoked Obama-era guidance to public schools
protecting transgender students. Grimm, though, is likely to
graduate before his case is resolved.

Each influential person on Time's
list is profiled by a guest contributor. Transgender author-activist
Janet Mock wrote about Grimm.

“Gavin is the cherubic face of a
reductive, dirty debate about trans people’s right to exist in
public spaces without hostility, harassment and violence,” Mock
wrote. His case, which remains ongoing in Virginia, has
implications that extend far beyond bathrooms. It’s about a greater
sense of belonging for us all—at school, at home and in our
neighborhoods and places of work and worship. So many are made to
feel as if they should hide, pretend or perish. Gavin’s refusal to
be treated unjustly is an enduring reminder that we will not be
stalled.”